Homework
by CreatorZorah
Summary: An asteroid brought humanity to the brink of extinction, but instead of destroying the young race, the catastrophe strengthened it. AU. Two-shots for now.
1. Episode 1

**AU One-shot :) An asteroid brought humanity to the brink of extinction, but instead of destroying the young race, the catastrophe strengthened it.**

**HOMEWORK**

by CreatorZorah

Centuries ago few people would work in the darkness of night. It was another matter now, in the age of Faster-than-light travel, when even the term "night" lost a half of its meaning. It wasn't an universal time to rest any more.

Cyanea was one of those who lived by the Standard Calendar rather than the native one. She was born on a starship and lived the most of her life in space. It was one of the rare moments in her life, when her mother had a prolonged stay on Earth. It wasn't worth to adjust her rhythm for three months of life on the Homeworld.

The girl was using the traditional meditation posture. She was seven years young, a student of the Academy and she was working on her homework. To develop and evaluate creativity in children teachers assigned the students to write short stories about evolution and history of various races including their own. They had to imagine that the reader had no knowledge of their race. She would rather improve her hand-to-hand combat skills though, but she writing was an acceptable assignment.

_...It was undoubtedly the darkest day in the human history. Humans were unable to protect themselves, we were young and clueless about the immensity of the universe and its dangers. It's been two thousand five hundred years since the day that changed everything, the day the humanity will always remember. The Day of the Great Impact._

_A very large asteroid extremely rich of the Element Zero entered the Earth's atmosphere and exploded, causing destruction and death. Human population decreased to mere three hundred thousand. The world changed and the survivors were forced to adapt. Under the mutagenic effects of Element Zero the species of Earth began to evolve. Only the strongest and those who could learn fast had a chance to survive on the planet that suddenly became so hostile..._

"Mother, is it any good?" she asked telepathically sharing the story with her.

"Pompous," her mother answered.

Cyanea pouted at the short answer, but decided to continue the story anyway.

_Over the next two centuries, a prolonged exposure to the Element Zero produced a few different branches of our race that carried useful mutations. The half of them died, the others gave a birth to the new human race. I believe that the most important mutation was the one that gave us ability to share our thoughts, memories and emotions through the Dark Energy._

The girl wondered how the other species were existing without the connection. She couldn't imagine to be cut off from her friends, family, the Elders. They had to be so lonely, isolated. Cyanea shuddered. But even more horrible was the fact that their knowledge, memories, personality would disappear upon their death. Cyanea knew that she would continue her life as an Elder after death. Or, maybe, she would be willing to use an artificial body for a second life...

_Our ancestors were considerably smaller. Archaeological findings tell us that they were thirty centimetres shorter at an average, their bodies weren't enhanced by the innate unconscious biotic abilities, like ours. The maturation process of our ancestors' children was at least two times slower, comparable to various lesser races like turians and quarians._

Cyanea sighed when she thought about the lesser races. It had to be difficult to learn for them. Humans didn't need to learn, they could receive the knowledge of the whole race directly through their connection. However, they had to train their minds to be able to use the knowledge.

At the moment Cyanea's mind was rated as M4, high for her age, but quite low in comparison to her mother, who was rated as M17. Her mother could solve numerous integral equations at the same time in a matter of seconds using nothing but her mind. Cyanea had difficulties with solving even one without additional instruments.

_Another important moment in the history of humanity is the year 871 After the Great Impact. Dorian became the first Elder and we learned the secret of not dying, at first sharing our consciousness among those who are alive and later using the Dark Energy itself as the host..._

_...By that time the consequences of the Great Impact were long overcome, our civilization began to thrive again. With the last enemy, the Death defeated, we started looking for a way to our immortality. The moment when we began to use the Dark Energy was still centuries away, therefore we had to find another way to ensure the existence of the Elders. Mostly because we learned what had happened on the Day of the Great Impact._

_It took us only two centuries to get our first satellite into the space. In the year 1093 we became a space-faring race. Though the lesser races were space-faring for centuries at that point of time, when they were going through the Krogan Rebellions, no race progressed as fast as humanity. We went all the way from the stone age to the age of starships in only three hundred years..._

_...Unlike the lesser races, we didn't gain technologies from Protheans, an extinct race of old. By the time we found their ruins on Mars in 1361 our technologies were just as advanced. We didn't need help from the dead race and we didn't use the Mass Relay located in our home system. We dismantled it to harvest rare materials including the Element Zero, because the existence of the Relay was deemed dangerous, while any modification of it - detrimental to our own development for we don't accept help from lesser races..._

Cyanea smiled when she thought about the Geth. Ironically the synthetics were the only race, humans didn't consider to be a lesser one. Humans and Geth had lots in common. Like humans all Geth were connected. Furthermore the synthetics were immortal. But at the same time even young Cyanea found them limited. They didn't have individuality. The Geth weren't a lesser race, but neither were they an elder race like humans.

_...The year 1448 gifted us with artificial bodies. We learned to transfer our consciousness to other bodies. Those Elders who wished to live once again, could do it, though the most of the Elders, obviously, decided to exist without a container..._

Personally, Cyanea didn't see any reason to get a second body. As an Elder she would be able to see and hear everything, her knowledge and capabilities of her mind would be limitless. She would be perfect, a being without a body, a being of pure energy, the Dark Energy. It was the path of ascension, the road to perfection.

…_In the year 2237, we met the lesser races that call themselves the Council races. We decided to not interfere, but to observe and to protect them from themselves in the hope that they would grow up and join us, the elder race. Unfortunately we were thirty years too late to prevent the meaningless Geth War and centuries too late to protect krogan and rachni..._

Cyanea opened her eyes and glanced at the night sky through the window, wondering if it was the way her ancestors had felt. Was that how the loneliness felt? She wasn't alone, but they, humans were alone in the galaxy, the only race that overcome the limits of the fragile mortal bodies. She hoped that at least asari would join them soon, they were the closest to the path of ascension. Cyanea shook her head and shared the story with her teacher.


	2. Episode 2

A/N: Somehow I wrote another small episode for the AU. A small Star Trek reference can be found here :) I hope you like it.

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**HOMEWORK**

by CreatorZorah

**Five years later**

It was Cyanea's second year of her journey through the galaxy. Her starship was quite small, having just enough space for one human to live comfortable. Any other specie would most likely argue, but humans needed few things to feel comfortable. One would search for a bed or a chair to sit, but one would fail, because Cyanea didn't need a bed.

Had the lesser species entered the starship, they wouldn't even know how to control it, since Cyanea only needed her mind and connection to the Dark Energy to do it. There were no visible communication devices, because she could communicate telepathically. There were nothing to entertain her, but she didn't need anything, because she had access to everything through the Dark Energy.

Of course there were things invisible to someone who wasn't familiar with human starships. A food synthesizer that was hidden in the wall. Holographic training machine, a traditional communication device that could be used to contact the lesser races. It could only used remotely through the Dark Energy though.

Cyanea was sitting on the floor in the traditional meditation posture. She was twelve now, a full adult with a rank M16, just two levels below her mother and four levels below the highest ranked human ever. She was the first human under twenty five to reach the rank.

If one of the humans of old had seen her, the ancestor would probably think that she was a demoness. Her appearance was similar to the humans of old, but not quite. She had a grayish black skin and blue hair - a result of the centuries spent by the humans in the atmosphere full of highly mutagenic Element Zero. If she opened her eyes, one would look in her pitch black eyes.

A small frown appeared on her face. Her ship was orbiting the Omega station, home for outlaws and mercenaries. She was studying the place, but it wasn't Omega that caused the frown. She felt a disturbance in the Dark Energy. It wasn't difficult for human of her rank to sense a working drive core that used Element Zero.

The ship that appeared out of the Mass Relay was unusual, however. It didn't feel like those of known lesser races. She had never sensed one like this. That meant it was a ship of a new race. Cyanea shared the new information with the Elders and received a recommendation to investigate.

As the new ship flew to the Omega, Cyanea tried to assess the species that were controlling the small starship. The more Element Zero had their bodies the more information she could get. A high ranking human like her could read emotions and memories of asari from afar. These new species confused Cyanea greatly however. She could sense them, but they felt oddly familiar and very unlike other species at the same time.

_Robots, _she realized. But not quite, they were living beings. _Cyborgs?_ They were remotely controlled through the Dark Energy almost like she controlled her starship. Could it be that she accidently stumbled upon another elder race? Cyanea was excited at the prospect, but decided to not rush into establishing a contact. She shared her findings with the Elders and received a recommendation to proceed the observation.

She manipulated Dark Energy to move her ship to Omega. She hadn't had any intentions to enter the station, but now Cyanea had no choice but to go there. She would be the first human to set a foot on the space station or a planet populated by the lesser races. It was another reason for her excitement. Cyanea knew, however, that she had to hide her presence from the lesser races. Thankfully she had a cloaking device.

Though she was aware of the situation on the station, she was distraught by the living conditions. Cyanea had an urge to help, but the prime directive forbade her to interfere unless it wasn't a matter of civilization's survival or another comparable emergency. She forced herself to focus on her objective. Utilizing her abilities Cyanea found the cyborgs and headed there invisible to inhabitants of the space station.

Soon she found them in a company of a few batarians, krogan and vorcha. She couldn't risk getting closer fearing that they would spot her somehow, therefore she sat down, closed her eyes and reached for the mind of a batarian to hear what they were talking about.

The Collectors. She knew about them, but until now humans couldn't find any proof of their existence. Cyanea smiled. She was the first again! Cyanea shared her discovery with the Elders and continued the observation. There were many rumors, but she could only trust the facts.

Much to Cyanea's disgust the Collectors wanted to trade technologies for a very special group slaves. Red-eyed turians. After a few moments she had all available information on the turian phenotype. There was nothing really special about it, just a rare genetic trait. However the information supported the known rumors about the Collectors: they really were 'collecting' living beings with rare traits.

Suddenly Elders shared their thoughts with her causing her eyes to widen in surprise. The Elders considered the Collectors a potential threat to the lesser races. Cyanea was ordered to enter the mind of the cyborg and to attempt to trace where the Collectors were controlled from. It could be dangerous, but she had to do it.

It was surprisingly easy to enter the mind of the Collector. They were primitive, like puppets manipulated by someone else. There was almost nothing useful in their minds. However the moment she attempted to trace the puppeteer, Cyanea sensed that she had been found and immediately emerged from the Collector's mind.

"**Assuming direct control**."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: And another episode :)

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**HOMEWORK**

by CreatorZorah

"**Assuming direct control,**" the voice of puppeteer boomed in the mind of the Collector.

Cyanea wondered why the being had to think so loudly. She kept the connection to the cyborg's mind in order to communicate if the being, whatever it was, would be willing to. The lesser beings were clearly unaware of the change and she wondered what the puppeteer would do. They weren't people she would want to protect, besides her priority was the being who was controlling the Collectors.

"This exchange is over," the Collector said.

"What do you mean it is over?" a batarian asked angrily. "You better..."

The next moment the group of Collectors pointed their weapons of the lesser beings and fired. Cyanea cringed at the needless violence but didn't do anything to protect them. The services they were offering were just as disgusting as the Collectors' request. However, she couldn't judge the puppeteer yet. She didn't have enough information.

When the lesser beings were dead, she stood up and headed over to the Collectors. They weren't firing at her, just waiting. Cyanea decided that it was a good sign. She stopped five metres away from them.

"In the name of the Elders, I greet the one who controls this shell," she said telepathically to the puppeteer.

"**You're an anomaly,**" replied the puppeteer.

"Thanks, you aren't exactly normal either," she replied. "What are you?"

"**I'm beyond your comprehension, being of blood and flesh.**"

Cyanea rolled her eyes. "This body is a mere shell for my immortal spirit and mind. You are no superior of mine."

"**Your religious beliefs that provide you with false hope are irrelevant. We are the Harbinger of your ascension.**"

That was an interesting piece of information. "I believe we both misunderstood each other. It's not a religion, it's a scientific fact. I'm able to ascend and continue my life as a being of pure energy, like the Elders. However, you aren't an ascended being, you are an AI, aren't you?"

"**Prove.**"

The only Elder who could materialize himself was Aten, the only human that had reached M20. He wasn't very reliable though. The Elders were sometimes difficult to understand, but Aten was known to act immaturely, despite being the most intelligent human in the universe. Cyanea hoped that she wouldn't act like him once ascended.

"Oh, I hear a cute girl thinking about me!"

Cyanea sighed and turned her head to the right where a ghostly form of Aten materialized out of thin air. He had ascended when he had been fifty, but he chose a younger form to appear before her and the puppeteer. Cyanea couldn't be sure if he was here to help or just because she had been thinking about him.

"Aten, I'm in the middle of negotiations," she told him.

"Why so cold, Cyanea?" Aten complained and looked at the Collector. "Well, you have the evidence. I would stay, but... it's too boring here. Call me when you're naked, Cyanea."

With that he disappeared leaving mortified Cyanea alone with the Collectors. Bloody pervert! If he hadn't ascended, she would kick his arse.

"I apologize for his behaviour," Cyanea said. "Aten is eccentric."

"**I accept the evidence. You provided new insights into the problematic**."

"It's your turn to answer my questions. You aren't a being of blood and flesh. Neither are you an ascended being. Therefore you're an AI. However, an AI wouldn't need bearers of rare genetic traits unless there is a logic behind it. I assume it has something to do with the ascension you claim to be a Harbinger of. Am I correct?"

"**We harvest advanced organic and synthetic species to preserve organic life in the universe.**"

Cyanea's eyes widened slightly. "Then you're the one behind the Cycle. We discovered ancient ruins of multiple species that were destroyed by an unknown force. I understand now. You harvest them and preserve them in form of an AI. However, I fail to see the reason. Are you speaking on behalf of all the civilizations you've harvested?"

"**Yes, I do. We bring order to chaos. The created will always rebel against their creators. It's inevitable and so we protect the organic life from complete annihilation by the synthetics. Your species are the first who achieved the ability to ascend without our help.**"

"Because you don't give them time to evolve," Cyanea said with a frown. "We were born in chaos. It gave us the ability to ascend. Order means stagnation. However, I admit, we lack the knowledge about synthetics, because we only know the Geth, who are not a danger to organics. Still your solution is imperfect."

"**We're aware of that. Are you willing to cooperate in order to find a better solution?**"

Cyanea wanted to cooperate. Humanity lacked information about AI and couldn't predict their development. However it wasn't something she could decide on her own. She shared the revelations and requested an answer for the question.

"I'll share our decision soon," she said and for the next ten minutes stood, telepathically participating in the discussion about the AI's proposition. Finally the decision was made. "We have reached a consensus. We will cooperate if you agree to our condition."

"**Name the condition.**"

"You will stop the Cycle and won't continue the harvest unless we agree that it's the best possible solution."

"**The Cycle became obsolete when you provided an evidence of your ability to ascend. We agree.**"


End file.
